Legend of Zelda: Discovery
by Kuann
Summary: Ganondorf decides to have a talk with Zelda while she awaits Link inside his central tower, where he reveals his intentions for the two of them, and his intentions for Hyrule. Rated T just for consistency, no explicit themes or anything like that.


**Hello and welcome, Legend of Zelda fans. This is not my first time writing on , but it is my first time writing for this fandom, so here goes. This story takes place at the end of Ocarina of Time, and is a discussion between Ganondorf and Zelda that occurs while Link clears out the Ganon's Castle dungeon. This story has quite a suspicious ending, but that is because it is supposed to lead into future works. Being that the writing style is very detailed and internal, I decided to post this story as a sort of test manuscript. Thus, when reviewing, please be sure to critique and comment on the writing style, as well as the other elements of the story. Other than that, please enjoy my short story!**

**Discovery**

The walls of her prison alone were maddening. It was a constant drain on Zelda's willpower to focus on anything else in the room. Pink walls of energy rotated lazily before her eyes, devilishly ensnaring in that motion, tempting her thoughts to sink into mind-numbing repetition. Though she knew their magical nature, they were easy to mistake for panes of glass. Ganondorf's "throne room," if that was what it could have been called, took on a surreal glaze when viewed through the force prism's magical panels. It was odd that the magical container was pink; Ganondorf's preferred magics were normally a sickly green or purple color...

With a brief pulse of will, Hyrule's princess reigned her thoughts back in. The magical prison should not have been so fascinating to her – she had not endured years of Sheikah meditation for nothing – but it continued to tax her attention.

_A small effect of the spell, no doubt,_ she thought. Perhaps it was to hamper her attempts to interfere with the spell-work, although such efforts would be useless. Ganondorf's Triforce of Power allowed him to enact spells far superior to hers, even for all her knowledge. It seemed that, in the area of magic, brute force trumped finesse.

Once again divorcing her thoughts from the rotation of the magic prism, Zelda did her best to observe her surroundings. It was difficult to make out details from the sight-warping effects of her "cell," but one feature remained stubbornly noticeable.

Ganondorf played before a massive organ at the head of the chamber, his back turned to her indifferently. He had been playing there for some time, though that was all Zelda could deduce with certainty. His haunting melody seemed to make the air vibrate. He had stopped to pace from time to time during her imprisonment, but had never he taken the time to address her with more than a mocking glance. Worse, the organ had continued to play in his absence, its haunting melody pounding itself ever-so-clearly into her mind.

Zelda had returned the King of Evil's silence, dignity the least of her reasons. Despite the foul taste that Ganondorf's magic left on her tongue, Zelda had spent her time probing the various enchantments of the prison. Some were too shielded for her to discern their purpose or effect, but a silencing charm had made itself clear almost immediately. If she would speak, it would be only with the King of Evil's permission.

Sadly, his surprising skill in magic made the upcoming confrontation with Link all the more concerning... _frightening_... for her. She feared for her Hero's safety when he came, even after all he had accomplished. For come he would - that much, she could know with all her faith.

Suddenly, for the first time in what felt like days, the organ stopped. It was surprising how empty the air felt without its music. Ganondorf was still sitting before the massive instrument, his head bent in thought. The room hung in limbo for a few moments.

Then, Zelda's prison did the last thing she would have expected: it began to descend. The rotating walls of the prism slowly halted as she neared the ground. The magical distortion faded simultaneously, allowing for a crystal-clear view of her surroundings. After a few seconds decline, Zelda found herself hovering about a foot off the ground – just high enough to look a standing Ganondorf in the eye.

The King of Evil turned to face her. His eyes drew her attention first – they were intense and bright, with yellow irises tinged red. Zelda could see the intelligence within, yet there was something else that unnerved her, for all her mental control. It was as if there was a feral aspect to the Ganondorf's eyes, barely restrained by some remaining shred of humanity.

Ganondorf waved his hand, and Zelda detected the silencing spell on her prison fade. He stood, sweeping his cloak aside as he did so. Her brow twitched slightly; Ganondorf's body was bulging with muscle in a way that it probably should not have. It radiated the power within him, and form-fitting armor did little to mask his imposing physique. Instead of seeing health and vitality, Zelda felt that she was staring at some dangerously huge monster. The vulnerability she felt, hovering no more than five feet from the greatest threat Hyrule had known in centuries, was nearly overwhelming. His minions were faint shadows of the evil he represented. She felt the urge to vanish, retreat, but she wouldn't have even if she could.

_No more running,_ she thought firmly. Ganondorf smirked at her, then set off pacing, circling like a stalking wolfos.

"I wonder, Princess, if you truly hold the Triforce of Wisdom..." he said. "Why have you set Link against me? What will it achieve? You know that he will only meet his demise here, squashed underneath my boot heel."

_So, he wishes to play this game,_ she thought. It seemed silence would no longer suffice.

"I have not _set_ Link against anyone," she replied. Her voice was level and poised. "He fights you with his own will, for the same reason as me. We fight for the good of Hyrule; to that cause, I am as much an instrument as him."

"Oh, fight you do," Ganondorf said with amusement. "Do not think that I haven't seen the effects of your work, _Sheik_. You were a thorn in my side long before the 'Hero of Time' ever returned to this realm." He spoke Link's title with obvious disdain and mockery, but Zelda thought she detected something more genuine in his voice. More... hateful.

"But your efforts were always _tolerable_. Though the two of you together have been irritating, it has done little to truly weaken me." Ganondorf smiled. She could feel his eyes drilling into the back of her head. "Yet I find myself curious, odd as that is. You preach self-sacrifice and true goodness, yet you commit a mere kid to his death simply because of girlish hopes."

"Link and I fight for the good of the many, even if our efforts may fail," Zelda replied, more passionately than she intended. "That is _true_ wisdom, and your failure to understand that is why you could never obtain the full Triforce."

It did not entirely surprise her, but Ganondorf's laugh was still disconcerting. The Gerudo man tossed his head back, filling the chamber with his taunting mirth. Zelda's fingers twitched as he mocked her, but otherwise remained motionless.

"You are confident, Princess," he said, resuming his circling. "Not that you have reason to be. You have suffered defeat after defeat; you stand captive in my personal chambers now! Your kingdom is no longer yours, girl. You have lived as a fugitive in Hyrule for seven years, and you call yourself its crown princess? Hah! There is only one reason that you persist, _Zelda_." The sound of her name on his lips made the princess's blood go cold. "You and I are not so different. I know, and you know, that all of your scheming, all of your efforts... we dance this eternal dance because, like me, _you hate to lose._"

Zelda did her best, but she was unable to stop her gasp of indignation.

"I am _nothing_ like you!" she exclaimed disgustedly. Ganondorf simply laughed again. It was shorter and less boisterous, but infinitely more infuriating.

"If you insist, _Princess_," he said, bowing as he often had in her childhood. "Tell me, how many times have you lied to that kid? How many times have you watched as I overran defense after defense? You're as manipulative as I am; you just lack the ambition, and the strength, to acknowledge it."

Zelda couldn't take it anymore. He had circled around to her front once again; she averted her eyes, placing a gloved hand gently against her abdomen. She did not, _could_ not, believe him, but some of his words rang true. She knew Link did not begrudge her for her choices, but that hurt her even more. She had seen so much death, so much poverty, so much pain, but none of those caused the lion's share of her guilt.

_I've put him through so much..._ she thought. _And what have I done, while he risks his life every moment?_

"Don't concern yourself with what is to come," Ganondorf continued. He must have noticed the obvious pain she was in; his tone was more eager, more pressing. It was the most excitement she had ever seen in him. "I'll be sure to kill that kid slowly. Not that you'll have a chance to help him, but you'll have a perfect view. He might even realize the truth about you before I finally take what was mine all along." Ganondorf looked away suddenly, as if he was watching some far-off event. "He's close now."

Zelda balled her fists now. All pretense of royal dignity had vanished.

"You won't kill him," she said with utter confidence. "He's slain all of your minions, driven your hordes back. And he's done it alone." The way she said that made her heart hurt, but the words were unstoppable. "Why not you? Every challenge you've placed before him has failed!"

Ganondorf snorted. "I am not as weak as those who serve me. Once I have the Triforce pieces contained in the two of you, any damage that kid has done can be easily reversed."

"If that is so, why did you not just fly out and meet him in battle yourself?" Zelda asked. "Why wait here, while your minions and control are slowly eliminated?"

He smirked. "If I hadn't made it seem like you had a chance, you wouldn't be here, would you?"

Zelda felt his reply coming before she heard it. She mentally cursed herself a thousand more times for her foolishness. Ganondorf laughed at her again, as if she were the most amusing object in the whole of Hyrule.

"Triforce of Wisdom, indeed," he sneered. "You have fallen into every trap I've set for you, Princess. Perhaps you are a wise fool, but a fool still."

Zelda's gaze, averted until now, snapped up at that. "What do you want?" It was a simple question, but she meant it with all her heart. "What do you hope to gain? You already have Hyrule, and the power to do whatever you desire. Tyrants want nothing more than that. What can Link and I give you that you're so desperate to have?"

Ganondorf arched an eyebrow.

"I never needed the Triforce to dominate Hyrule," he said. "I realize that now. Din's 'gift' merely hastened the process, gave me the power to make my visions a reality!" He held up his fist, the golden triangles shining through his leather glove. "What had I left to do? I had crippled the Gorons with starvation. I had slain the Kokiris' patron 'deity,' if you could call that oversized pile of leaves such a thing. I had nearly done the job on the Zoras as well; I had control of the Gerudo already, and the Sheikah were inconsequential. I'd even slain Hyrule's king, as I'm sure you fondly remember!"

Zelda closed her eyes and blocked out the pain of his words.

_Papa..._ she thought, for one moment a child again. When she opened her eyes, Ganondorf was smiling at her in triumph.

"There is, however, one thing the the Triforce of Power has done," he continued. "It has increased my magical capabilities substantially. Where once it would have taken all my strength to hold you as I do now, your current imprisonment requires only a flicker of thought. I can hold this tower in the sky with as little energy as it takes to lift my finger!"

_He's enjoying this,_ Zelda observed. This time, she refused to let her eyes turn away from him in mental pain or weakness.

"I am not a fool; I know that the Triforce of Power has made my reign easier, but it has done more than that. Through it, every spell I have worked is exponentially stronger than it would have been. Tell me, Princess, have you ever wondered what I went about in my castle, while you vainly tried to fight my minions and servants?"

Zelda remained silent. Ganondorf's grin merely widened, and he leaned toward her until his face was inches from the prison wall.

"Close to a year after that kid abandoned you and your allies, I began to acknowledge a certain... problem. It occurred to me after the Gorons managed to repel my first assaults – not that it ultimately mattered – that even with all the power I had gained, my ambitions were not satisfied. I was not _all-powerful._

"Naturally I decided that if there was to be any solution to this problem, I would have to find it myself. So I studied." Stopping suddenly in his speech, Ganondorf took the time to shoot her a sly, biting glance. "In fact, you'd be quite proud of me, Princess."

_Impossible,_ she thought. She had had the self-control to remain in a hidden alias for years, yet she could not entirely repress her hatred for this man.

"I spent years scrying and designing enchantments too complex for any other wizard, even you, to achieve. The results of my work can be seen all around you." Ganondorf swept a muscled arm along the width and breadth of the chamber. "And you will see more of it, when the time comes. In fact, Zelda, that's how I found you." He chuckled at that.

"Not that my attention was solely bent on your discovery. You were an afterthought by then, an exile derived of your champion. I turned my thoughts to other things, increasing my abilities wherever I could. As Hyrule slowly grew weaker, I grew stronger." Ganondorf clenched his fists emphatically. "My clairvoyance and sight reached new heights. I could cast my vision beyond the petty kingdoms that lived here before, into other lands and places separated by distances that made Hyrule seem small and irrelevant. I realized that the speck you still claim as your birthright is unimportant; it is one land of many."

"It is still _our_ land," Zelda replied. "And it is not your right to take it."

Ganondorf's brow creased dangerously. For the first time, he seemed completely unamused.

"Such a weak philosophy. Have the goddesses struck me down for some great violation of space and time? I have the right to take whatever I have the _power_ to take. There is no other metric on which the world is weighed; good and evil exist only in the minds of those who give it credence! I am not the one that has cowered in the shadows for seven years, stinging and biting but never stepping forth to face fate with honor!"

"Of course," Zelda replied evenly. "You've merely sat in your tower, floating where none can reach you, while you set your minions upon the innocent."

Ganondorf's eyes flashed, but otherwise he made no move against her.

"You are defiant," he said finally. "But you are also _powerless_, much less a threat to _me_."

His good mood returned. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards slightly. "You are fortunate to be necessary to my plans. Enjoy the time left to you, Zelda."

_He is using my title less and less,_ she noted. It was likely because of growing vanity, or lost respect; she had begun to lose respect for herself by now.

"So that is all you desire the Triforce for?" she asked indignantly. "To gain power over other 'unimportant' realms, to use your description?"

Ganondorf smirked. "Were it so simple, I would have simply left this castle and assaulted your strongholds myself. No, my goals are greater than what the Triforce of Power can provide alone..."

"Oh?" Zelda retorted caustically. There was little import in how she conducted herself around him; he was not a noble or dignitary that she need make civilities with. Either he or she would die, and no polite or dignified words would change that result. He had threatened Link with death as well; manners could not outweigh such arrogance. "So you have some grand destiny planned for yourself? You have reduced Hyrule to _ruins_, Ganondorf! What have you to rule, save the gibbering rabble that remains?"

Unlike everything else she had said to discourage him, the words seemed to gain some kind of purchase.

"For the first time in seven years, you are correct," he sneered. "Fortunately, I have no desire to lord over this land. If I wanted to simply be a king, I would have stayed in the Gerudo Desert! It is not how large a land is, or the people living on it, that matters! I know the stresses and annoyances that come with royalty; I have lived them myself! No..." The Gerudo man's smile broadened. "I will soon be _above_ lordship. It is not the status of being a king that counts... it is the power that exists within it! The power to do as I please, take what I wish to be mine! And I have seen _true_ power... power that you, your pathetic 'Hero,' even Twinrova could not have imagined!"

Zelda shuddered at the mention of Ganondorf's twin aunts, a foul taste forming on her tongue.

Ganondorf smirked at her expression. "You see, Zelda, my magical experiments have resulted in more than petty spells and enchantments. Through the use of the Triforce of Power, I extended my gaze to worlds beyond this one. I cast my gaze into a realm beneath our own, oddly similar to this one in many ways... I gazed into the heavens where the goddesses do indeed sit, mired in the seas of their apathy. Yet... I saw _more_."

The expression that appeared on Ganondorf's face frightened her. His eyes seemed to glaze over, yet they twinkled with an excitement that she could only describe as gleeful. He leaned ever closer, almost brushing the edge of her magical prison with the tip of his nose. It was all Zelda could do not to press her back against the wall behind her in retreat.

"I saw beyond the heavens," he growled. "Beyond law and time itself! A realm that even the goddesses dare not tread within! Chaos, the raw power of existence, surged through it... never have I felt such energy!" He spoke with increasing speed, filling the room with his manic words. "Yet it was not empty! I saw... beings... beings within that churning sea of raw power. They hardly recognized my presence, so great were their forms! They vibrated with divine magic, magic I knew no other force could equal! I realized something..."

The glaze in his eyes cleared, focusing on her intently.

"I realized... that it was a fitting world for a being with my ambition, my... _vision_."

Zelda gasped.

"_That_ is why you want the full Triforce?" she asked in partial disbelief. "You think you can become one of those... _things_? You cannot even be sure of their existence!"

"Hmph." Ganondorf crossed his arms, making the muscle beneath his armor all the more obvious. "_Things_? These are beings greater than you could ever understand... yet even your intransigent mind is beginning to see the truth." He smiled, baring his teeth in an almost predatory way. "With the full Triforce, I will be able to pierce the veil between worlds with more than just my mind. The souls of all Hyrule's inhabitants will become the nourishment for my ascension... I will become a GOD!"

The entire room shook with the force of his words. The Triforce of Power flashed with an almost greenish light. Were it not for her own wisdom and self-control, Zelda might have believed him in that moment due only to the confidence with which he spoke.

"You are insane..." she said. "You think that you can have the power of the goddesses? The Triforce is _their_ creation... a _symbol_ of their power, nothing more! You will _never_ be like them!"

Ganondorf laughed. "I do not wish to be _like_ them at all. I have seen what they consider to be true power. I tell you now, before you become the instrument of my ascension... what I have seen... is _beyond_ them by a thousand magnitudes."

A stark silence followed, for Zelda had no words to say. More power than the goddesses? What could he have seen that would make him believe something that ludicrous? And if he was lying, which she was finding to be more likely by the second, what did he have to gain? Why speak to her at all?

Ganondorf suddenly turned his face upward and closed his eyes. After a deep breath, the King of Evil grinned. "He is coming..." he said, more to himself than anyone else. "We shall see soon if that kid lives up to your expectations." With an almost audible pulse of magical energy, Zelda felt the silencing spell on her prison return. Slowly, dreadfully, she began her return to the ceiling of the massive chamber.

"Do not worry, Princess!" Ganondorf barked up at her. The organ had once again begun to play, but she could still hear his words as clearly as before. "I think I will keep you alive for some time after the full Triforce is mine! It will be amusing to see your denial shattered!"

* * *

Zelda stepped from the Sacred Realm in much the same way as she had taken every other step of her life. A moment ago, she had been drifting through a serene sky of gold, watching Link as he departed to whatever fate awaited him. Now, as if she had woken from a perfect dream, the charred earth surrounding Hyrule Castle was once more beneath her feet.

She was alone by the ruins of the Ganon's Castle; Link and Navi had departed, Ganondorf was imprisoned, and the citizens of Castle Town had yet to return. She wasn't even sure if her people knew that it was finally over; clouds continued to hang over the ruins of Hyrule's capital, and outside of the ruins themselves, no clear sign of victory had come. Zelda felt that the clouds above her head were simply weather patterns and had no malign power, but Hylians not so well attuned with magical forces would not notice such a nuance.

The world's calm indifference was a reminder of how much work remained to be done. Zelda sighed and cast her gaze to the ruined castle. It, of all things, was a symbol of the suffering Hyrule had endured. The perimeter of the fallen island consisted mostly of ashes, burned to dust by Ganon's fire. The rest of the ruins were hardly better; they were little more than piles of ebony rubble, marked occasionally by a half-intact beam or buttress. Ganondorf had certainly been thorough in preventing any salvage.

_The castle will have to be rebuilt from the foundation,_ she thought. The decision was an obvious one, but it was poignant nonetheless. Nothing would remain of her childhood. Even the land itself would have to be reformed; the magma beneath the castle had solidified, but that still left a considerable pit at least one hundred feet in depth and width. And there were the ruins of Castle Town Market to consider...

Zelda sighed and buried her face in her hands. There was so much to do, yet nobody had the resources to do it. The Royal Family's treasury was lost, and not a single person in Hyrule had been left untouched by the devastation. The Zoras would have to repair their domain after years of abandonment; the Gorons had lost their leader, and she knew that the replacement process was slow. The people of Kakariko had the greatest chance, but they hardly had the ability to rebuild everything. Not even the nobility remained; Ganondorf had seen to their eradication first of all. She would have to lead Hyrule alone.

_It's fitting, though_, she thought. _Who better to repair this destruction than the one who caused it?_

And cause it she had. If Zelda had known what would occur when she sent Link into the Temple of Time... she could have waited. Ganondorf would have moved against her father regardless, but he would hardly have had the power to conquer the country. She might have waited in exile, but he would have been defeated, and Hyrule would have been safe from his evil forever.

And Link would not have had to face so much danger.

"Goddesses, Link..." Zelda murmured, tightly clutching the Ocarina of Time. He had done so much for her, even after all she had put him through. She had taken seven years of his life, and not even had the gall to be honest with him when he awoke. Then, when she'd finally decided to peel _that_ injustice away, she'd allowed herself to simply be whisked away by Ganondorf. Even in the final battle, Link had been alone, yet he had done it without expectation of thanks. He truly was the Hero of Time.

But he was also her friend... her _best_ friend. Her only friend. She was sure that she had done the right thing by sending him back... yet she missed him. She missed him so very much.

A wind blew through the remains of Ganon's Castle. Zelda braced herself against the air, only to discover that it was warm and comforting. _I can't recall the last time I felt warmth in this place..._

Suddenly, Zelda found herself smiling. Link was gone, and that thought filled her with sorrow... but there was hope. The Great Deku Sprout would grow and spread new life through Hyrule. The Zoras and the Gorons would help her people rebuild... and they would do it together.

Zelda clasped her hands together in prayer. _Goddesses... though you have given me so much good fortune already, please provide the strength, wisdom, and will to rebuild our beautiful kingdom... this I ask of you, Din, Nayru, and Farore, as your humble servant._

The prayer was proper enough, although perhaps more desperate than most. Despite that communion, Zelda felt chills run down her spine as an answer came, very different from what she imagined the gods to sound like.

"..._What I have seen..." _rang Ganondorf through her memory, _"is _beyond_ them by a thousand magnitudes._"

Zelda gritted her teeth as his words came to mind. Ganondorf, and the memories he left behind, seemed all the more poignant in his absence. His theories had disgusted and disturbed her more than she had ever expected.

_It's ludicrous,_ she thought, more angry than she should have been. _What kind of mind thinks that it can triumph over the creators of Hyrule itself? The Triforce of Power is a fraction of Din's might... yet he says he has found a power greater than her and her sisters? It's impossible... he can't be more powerful than all-powerful!_

Zelda began to wring her hands, brow knitted with speeding thoughts. Ganondorf had done little to substantiate his claims, and from a logical sense they seemed to be little more than ramblings. Yet... why would he have bothered to speak to her at all? Without the strange descriptions of super-universal beings and widespread lands, there would have been little point to the conversation.

_Perhaps he meant to break me..._ she thought. _He knew that I would help Link, so he tried to remove my faith._

She realized how little sense that made the moment she had thought it. Ganondorf had not expected Link to triumph in the organ room, and she had been of no assistance before that.

"Why?" Only when she had spoken did the princess realize how starkly silent the world had become. The wind had ceased to blow, and no life accompanied her in the wasteland. Her question rang poignantly against the stilled air, the world awaiting an answer. Zelda sighed and closed her eyes, yet the Triforce of Wisdom had no answers for her.

_Those words..._ Ganondorf had seared an irreparable hole in Hyrule's memory, slain her father, abandoned the Gerudo that had birthed and raised him, and nearly killed Link.

Link, her one and only true friend.

_Those words... are the ravings of a shameless madman._ It surprised her how difficult it was to think that, despite all that she knew. Still, it was the only truth that she could justify, and it need not worry her any longer.

A draft of cold air brushed against her arm, slipping through her clothing and chilling her down to the bone. The ruins seemed to be going cold again, becoming more desolate. The blackness of the earth seemed to rush up at her, and the tinge of sulfur in the air made her suddenly sick.

Desperate for relief, Zelda looked to the south. Hyrule field was cast into shadow by curtains of rain – beautiful, purifying rain.

_Goddesses_, she thought, _it hasn't rained in Hyrule since I was little. _Hyrule was beginning to awaken again. She had only her hero to thank for that. _I hope you find happiness, Link..._

Soon, though, even the alien sight of rain was unable to overcome the pressing sadness that surrounded her. Zelda began to make her way to the ruins of Castle Town Market, where she knew that the threat of Redeads had gone.

Ganon's Castle slowly faded away behind her, as silent in death as it was in life. The tyrant's reign was finally over... yet a terrible shard of him remained.

It did not show on Zelda's regal expression, but her convictions about Ganondorf and his projections seemed weak already. Something in what he had told her struck a chord.

"..._What I have seen... is_ beyond _them by a thousand magnitudes._"

She despised Ganondorf. She hated him as much as she trusted Link... yet something beyond her kept her from completely dismissing his final discussion with her.


End file.
